Bottle closure having tear strip and reclosure features



1964 G. w. FAULSTICH BOTTLE CLOSURE HAVING TEAR STRIP AND RECLOSUREFEATURES Filed Aug. 7, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F ig INVENTOR George W.Faulsfich Feb. 11, 1964 G. W. FAULSTICH BOTTLE CLOSURE HAVING TEAR STRIPAND RECLOSURE FEATURES Filed Aug. 7, 1962 Fig.6.

'2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig]. i 43 Fig.9. 43 4| INVENTOR.

George W. Foulsrich United States Patent O M 3,120,900 BOTTLE CLOSUREHAVING TEAR STRIP AND RECLOSURE FEATURES George W. Faulstich, 800Alameda St., San Carlos, Calif. Filed Aug. 7, 1962, Ser. No. 215,328 1Claim. (Cl. 215-46) This invention relates to a new and improved closurefor bottles, the closure having a weakened score line or lines formedtherein at the time of manufacture which (facilitate tearing of a skirtportion of the closure to permit removal from the bottle neck but whichis so located that a portion of the closure comprising a cap remains forreolosure purposes as required. Accordingly, the present inventionprovides a cap for a necked bottle which has an elongated skirt fittingdown over the neck and frictionally and otherwise engaging the same sothat the closure cannot be removed from the neck without destroying thesame. Since the skirt must be torn before access to the contents isprovided, it is impossible to remove or refill the contents of the:bottle without detection. Nevertheless, when the elongated skirt istorn to provide access to the contents, the upper portion of the capremains intact and serves to reclose the bottle as required.

The present invention provides a seal-like closure wherein the seal mustbe broken before access to the contents is afforded.

A further feature of the invention is the fact that a reclosure cap isprovided which may be used for temporarily closing the bottle duringstorage at the point of consumption or on other occasions after aportion of the contents of the container has been removed.

A particular feature and advantage of the invention is the fact that theclosure may be initially installed very easily. The skirt is elongatedand of a moderately resilient plastic material and hence is fairlyflexible. Thus the bottom edge of the skirt is fitted over the upper endof the neck of the bottle and pressed downwardly permitting the closureto flex so that it slips down over the neck and seats securely. Once itis seated the resiliency of the closure causes a frictional engagementbetween the closure and neck which prevents the closure from beingpulled of]? of the neck.

It will be understood that at the present, bottles of the type withwhich this invention is concerned employ plastic sleeves or the likewhich fit over the cap and around the neck. Installation of suchclosures requires initial seating of the cap on the neck of the bottleand then the application of the plastic sleeve. The present inventionreduces the amount of labor and simplifies the ope-ration of sealing thebottles.

The foregoing type of closure requires that the plastic sleeve must 'becut by a knife or other sharp instrument to provide access to thecontents of the bottle. Locating and using such an instrument is asource of annoyance and hence the present invention enables the consumerto open the bottle much more easily than in conventional construction.

A still further feature of the invention is the fact that the closure isconsiderably less expensive to manufacture than conventional closures,requires less labor to install, and has additional advantages insimplicity of construction.

The present invention may be used with conventional glass bottles of thetype used to merchandise bottled water or may be used also with thinwalled plastic containers. When used with the plastic type container,which is becoming increasingly popular in vending liquid, the resilientnature of the plastic neck and closure cap enables the bottle tobreathe. Thus when such bottles are used to store chemical solutions,building up of pressure 3,120,900 Patented Feb. 11, 1964 within thebottle enables gas to escape through the seal and prevents excessivepressure from building up. Further, although the seal will not leakduring ordinary usage. unusual compressive force applied to the bottlewill permit a part of the contents to leak out through the seal which ispreferable in many instances to fracture of the bottle itself.

Another feature of the invention shown in one of the modificationshereof is the provision of a cap of the character described which slipsover the screw neck of a conventional bottle.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon readingthe following specification and referring to the accompanying drawingsin which similar characters of reference represent corresponding partsin each of the several views.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the closure of the present invention andthe upper portion of a container of the plastic variety.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the commencement of thetearing of the skirt of the closure to open the same.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing the skirt torn and removedwith the reclosure cap in place, the cap being in section.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through a portion ofthe neck and closure of the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of a modified closure of the presentinvention and the upper portion of a screw neck glass container on whichthe closure is applied.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view through the structure of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the commencement of thetearing of the skirt of the closure.

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing completion of the tearing ofthe skirt of the closure and showing that the remaining portion of theclosure may be used as a reclosure cap.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, enlarged sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 10-10 of FIG. 6.

in the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 the closure is usedto close container 11, a thin-walled plastic type such as polyethyleneor polystyrene, it being understood that a variety of plastic materialis available for such purpose. Essentially, the container is relativelystrong and light in weight and resistant to chemical action of mostcommon liquids with which it is likely to be used. Although the wallsare reasonably rigid, nevertheless there is suificient resiliency in theplastic material so that they will flex somewhat under compression.

The shape of the container is not shown in detail in FIGS. 1 to 5, itbeing understood that such shape is subject to considerable variation.Preferably, however, the container has a thin-walled, relatively short,vertical neck 12 projecting upwardly from the body 1 1 of the container.The upper edge 13 of the neck is approximately square and lies in acommon, horizontal plane. A groove 14 is formed in the exterior of neck11, spaced downwardly from lip 13 a short distance such as approximatelyA and shaped rectangular, and preferably square, in crosssection.

It will be understood that considerable variation in the construction ofthe neck of the container may be practiced without departing from thespirit of the invention hereinafter described.

The closure 16 which is used with the container 11 is preferably formedof a plastic material which is sufiiciently resilient so that it fitssecurely around neck 12 and forms a tight seal against the same. Thematerial of which the closure 16 is formed has the furthercharacteristic that it may be torn with the fingers to obtain access tothe container and has the additional feature that the plastic is of suchcharacteristic that the upper portion snaps over the end of the neck 13to form a reclosure as frequently as desired.

Closure 16 has a top circular disc 17 fitting over lip 13 and having anoutside diameter slightly greater than that of neck 11. Disc 17 fitstightly against and seals against lip 13. lnteriorly of lip 13 is adepending short inner skirt 18 which fits inside the upper end of neck12 and assists in sealing the closure on the neck 11. Inner skirt 18merges with and is integrally formed with disc 17. The outer peripheralskirt 19 is likewise integral with disc 17 and is elongated in the sensethat it fits down the neck 12 for a substantial portion of the lengththereof. Skirt 19 is substantially vertical. Outer skirt 19 is formedwith an integral, internal, horizontal projecting bead 21 spaceddownwardly from disc 17 such a distance that it fits into groove 14 andhelps in locking the closure on the container. Bead 21 is complementaryto the shape of groove 14 and has relatively sharp corners. immediatelybelow bead 21a horizontal groove 22 is formed in the inner surface ofskirt 19. The groove '22 is preferably of alternating greater and lesserdepths, the maximum indentation being approximately of the length ofinch and separated by portions of lesser depth and of approximately thesame length. The weakening of the skirt at groove 22 facilitates intearing the skirt to provide a recl'osure cap as hereinafter appears.

At the bottom edge 23 of the skirt an integral, downwardly projectingtab 24 is formed to provide a finger grip. From a point immediately tothe right of tab 24 as viewed in FIG. 1, there slants upwardly at anangle of approximately 45 an internal groove 26 which extends up untilit intersects with groove 22. When the user grips tab 24 and pullsupwardly in the direction approximately that indicated by thedisplacement of tab 24 from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the positionshown in FIG. 3, the skirt 19 tears along score line 26. The usercontinues to pull on the tab 24 until the skirt tears along line 26 andreaches groove 22. The user then continues to pull the lower portion ofthe skirt 19 around the circumference of the neck 12 until the portionbelow groove 22 is separated from the upper portion and is discarded.The container and closure then assume the position shown in FIG. 4. Itwill be seen that the disc 17, upper portion of skirt 19, and bead 21,provide a reclosure cap which may be snapped onto and off of neck 12 asrequired.

In use, at therpoint of filling of the container 11, the closure 16 isinstalled by fitting the lower edge '23 of skirt 19 over lip 13, theinner bottom edge of skirt 19 being formed with a bevel 28 as best shownin FIG. 2, the bevel 23 assists in seating of the closure on neck 12.Disc 17 is pressed downwardly and accordingly skirt 19 slides down overheck 12 and bead 21 snaps into groove 14. Inner skirt 13 seals insidelip 13 and outer skirt 19 seals outside neck 12. Therefore asubstantially water and airtight seal is provided. The closure 16 cannotbe pulled off the neck without fracturing the skirt 19. As has beenmentioned, if the container 11 is sufficiently flexible, unusualcompressive forces applied accidentally to the container will enablesome of the contents to leak out by reason of relative deformation ofthe neck 12 and closure 16, thereby preventing the container itself fromfracturing. Once the unusual force is removed, the seal is intact.Leakage of liquid in this manner is only outwardly and cannot enableharmful substances to enter from the outside. Further, certain chemicalsolutions which may be packed in container 11 sometimes emit gases undercertain conditions. Such gases may escape through the seal between theneck 12 and closure 16 but, on the other hand, gases cannot enter thecontainer. So

A long as skirt 19 remains intact as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, thecontents of the container cannot be removed.

At the point of consumption, the user grasps tab 24 and pulls upward-1ywith a twisting motion along the direction of groove 26. Tearing iscontinued until the skirt is torn along the full length of groove 22.Upon completion of the tearing, the upper portion 27 remains seated onneck 12 as shown in FIG. 4. The consumer can remove the upper cap 27merely by prying the bead 2 1 out of the groove 14. Upper cap 27 may beused to reclose the container by merely pressing it down into itsinitial position. Cap 27 may be removed and replaced as many times asrequired.

The form of the invention shown in FIGS. 6-10- is used to closecontainers such as glass bottles formed with necks. As illustratedherein, the bottle 31 has a neck 32 terminating at its upper end in alip 13 and having on its exterior screw threads 34. The threads 34 areconventionally used in connection with a metal cap having matingthreads. immediately below the threads 34 is a circumferential head 36.Although the foregoing construction is particularly suited to thepresent invention, nevertheless it will be understood that considerablevariation in the construction of the neck of the container may bepracticed without departing from the spirit of'the invention hereinafterdescribed.

The closure 41, which is the subject of this invention, is preferablyformed of a plastic material which is sufficiently resilient so that itfits securely around the neck 32 and forms a tight seal thereagainst inthe zone indicated by reference numeral 42 in FIG. 7. The material ofwhsich the closure 41 is formed is similar to that of FIGS. l-

Closure 41 has a top circular disc 43, fitting over lip 13 and having anoutside diameter slightly greater than that of the threads 34. Disc 43fits tightly against and seals against lip 13. An upper peripheral skirt44 depends from disc 43 and fits over the threads 34. Upper skirt 44flares outwardly as indicated by reference numeral 46 at the level ofbead 36, and is formed with an internal groove 47 at zone 46 which fitsaround head 36. Below groove 47 is an inwardly. projectingcircumferential bead 48 which fits under the bead 36 of the neck 32.Below bead 43 is a lower skirt 49, preferably formed somewhat thinnerthan the portion above bead 48 so that it may be torn as hereinafterappears. Eower skirt 49 seals around neck 32 with a fairly tight Acircumferential internal score line 51 is formed immediately belowinternal bead 43 on the interior of the skirt of the closure. On thelower edge of the skirt is a slit 52 and immediately adjacent thereto isa downwardly projecting tab 53. By gripping the tab 53 and pullingupwardly, the slit 52 commences the tearing of the skirt. Preferably aspiral or helical internal score line 54 winds upwardly from slit 52 toa juncture with score line 51.

Installation and use of the closure shown in FIGS. 6-10 inclusive isessentially the same as in the preceding modification.

What is claimed is:

A cap of plastic material for a substantially vertical container neck,said neck having a circumferential groove of square cross section,comprising a fiat top disk closing off the open end of said neck and asubstantially vertical, thin wall, cylindrical skirt depending from saidtop disk and tightly engaging the exterior of said neck, said skirtbeing scored and weakened in a circumferential first line spaceddownwardly from the top of said skirt and also in a spiral configurationsecond line joining said first line and extending down to the bottomedge of said skirt, said skirt formed with a slit at the lower extremityof said second line, an integral tab extending substantially verticallyfrom the lower edge of said skirt adjacent the lower end of said secondline,

an internal circumferential bead 0n the inside of said skirt spaceddownwardly from said top and immediately above said first line, saidbead being square in cross section with sharp corners to fit snugly insaid groove, said skirt being of substantially uniform thickness bothabove and below said bead, and a second short skirt concentric with andof lesser diameter than said first mentioned skirt depending from saidtop disk to fit inside said neck, said cap formed of relativelyflexible, thin plastic material which may be torn along said second andfirst lines when said tab is pulled with the fingers, said cap beingoutwardly deformable upon application of internal pressure in thecontainer to which it is applied partially to unseat said bead from saidgroove to permit leakage of air from said container in an outwarddirection only upon application of severe compressive force to saidcontainer, whereby said container leaks but does not fracture uponapplication of said force.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,772,802 Woydatt et a1 Dec. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 887,790 France Aug.23, 1943 448,753 Italy May 25, 1949 798,284 Great Britain July 16, 1958816,787 Great Britain July 22, 1959

